Before we can put food inside the mouth, the body needs to be ready to make use of the food's nutrients. This process is called digestion. It occurs when food passes along a long tube, which begins with the mouth, throat and esophagus.
Even before food arrives, the sight or smell of food triggers the release of gastric juices. As food fills the expanding stomach, the nervous and hormonal systems control the churning of food, and mixing with gastric juice, until the time comes for emptying. The volume of the stomach can increase from just 0.1 pints (50 ml) when empty, to a massive 8 and a half pints (4 liters), after a big meal. It can expand bevause of big folds in its lining.
We finish off this process with the small and large Intestines located in a limited space in the abdomen. It's here that the breakdown of major food groups-carbohydrates, fats, protiens and others-into simple, usable nutrients is completed. Leftover waste is also removed.
(Information taken from: Dr. Frankenstein's Human Body Book: The Montrous Truth About How Your Body Works Author: Richard Walker.)
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